The hotel was built in 1639, but there was evidently a previous hotel or inn on the site because Sir Francis Drake reputedly stayed there. Many of the mistresses of Charles II were said to have stayed at the hotel. In 1688, Mary stayed at the hotel after she and her husband William arrived in England from the Netherlands to claim the throne. Edward VII and Cary Grant have also been guests. Agatha Christie, another guest, changed the name of the hotel to the Royal George for her novel Ordeal by Innocence. The hotel is reputedly haunted by an old stagecoach which draws up to the front door to collect phantom passengers in the night. Carriages served the hotel until 1910. Horse hooves, the opening and shutting of a carriage door and footsteps have been heard by guests. Apart from the stage coach's arrival, sounds of horses clattering on the cobble stones are also heard, particularly during the early morning hours of the autumn season. The story linked to this paranormal phenomenon is that William and Mary were to stay at the Royal Castle Hotel in 1688 but as a storm prevented William from reaching the hotel, he lodged nearby in Torbay. Mary, however, reached the Royal Castle Hotel in a carriage at 2 AM and from that time onwards, the stage has started appearing in paranormal form at the entrance to the hotel. Along with whip cracking and horse whining, an invisible clock chimes twice in a back street of the hotel following the departure of the carriage.
Architecture
The hotel is a grade II* listed building, of the early Georgian style but with a Victorianfacade, four stories with an attic, painted white, built as two separate merchant houses. It has 25 rooms, with a "glassed-in courtyard", a winding wooden staircase, 20 antique spring bells, the original coaching horn and numerous antiques. A seafood restaurant is located on the first floor. Eight rooms have a jacuzzi and five rooms contain a four-poster bed. Reputedly the timber beams downstairs were salvaged from the wreck of the Spanish Armada. An 1895 advertisement by Robert Cranford said "Patronised by Royalty. Fitted with Electric Light and Bells.... and sanitary arrangements are perfect." Other notable features in the hotel are old leather-bound books in the library, woodwork from a "Spanish man-o-war in the Galleon Bar", antique chaises longues, huge carved chairs, and velvet curtains.
